Stories of Change: Narrative and Social Movements - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0791451925 ISBN 13: 9780791451922

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2002

Synopsis

Applies narrative analysis to the study of social movements.

Despite the amount of storytelling in social movements, little attention has been paid to narrative as a form of movement discourse or as a mode of social interaction. Stories of Change is a systematic study of narrative as well as a demonstration of the power of narrative analysis to illuminate many features of contemporary social movements. Davis includes a wide array of stories of change-stories of having been harmed or wronged, stories of conflict with unjust authorities, stories of liberation and empowerment, and stories of strategic success and failure. By showing how these stories are a powerful vehicle for producing, regulating, and diffusing shared meaning, the contributors explore movement stories, their functions, and the conditions under which they are created and performed. They show how narrative study can illuminate social movement emergence, recruitment, internal dynamics, and identity building.

About this title

About the Author

Joseph E. Davis is Research Assistant Professor of Sociology and Program Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. He is the editor of Identity and Social Change.

Edition details

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0791451925
• ISBN 13: 9780791451922
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 294
• Editor: Davis Joseph E.